The United States State Department has blamed the Spanish Government for the mass entry of migrants into Ceuta, calling the crossings a serious violation of Spanish sovereignty and of human rights. In a post on X it said the influx was the direct result of “deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe”.
The department said it stood with the people of Spain and with Europeans in general, drawing a distinction between Spanish citizens and their government. It added that it was weighing action to protect Americans and was ready to assist European allies considering similar steps.
A department spokesman told Fox News Digital that the arrivals threatened the security of Europe. On August 1 the department raised its travel advisory for Ceuta to level three, telling Americans to reconsider travel.
Spain’s interior ministry estimated that about 50,000 people entered Ceuta from July 30, most of whom returned to Morocco within days. Spanish and Moroccan authorities have since put the death toll above 80, according to the Associated Press.
President Donald Trump called the scenes a “catastrophe” and likened them to an invasion. Vice-President JD Vance said the images were a reminder of the consequences of mass migration.
The criticism sits awkwardly beside a budget report cleared by the House of Representatives on July 15, which described Ceuta and Melilla as Spanish-administered cities located in Moroccan territory. That was the first time a chamber of Congress had questioned Madrid’s sovereignty in writing.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called the mass entry an attack on Spain’s territorial integrity, blaming trafficking networks that he said had made a self-serving reading of a Supreme Court ruling of July 8 barring summary returns at sea.
Relations between Madrid and Washington had already deteriorated over Sánchez’s refusal to open Spanish bases to American operations against Iran. Spain has also declined to sign up to the NATO defence spending target of 5 per cent of GDP.
Ceuta and Melilla form the European Union’s only land border with Africa. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has demanded an immediate halt to the crossings and swift returns to Morocco.
